Search smh:

Search in:

When rare can be risky

From raw to rare ... A steak is fine to eat rare, in its whole form. Minced is another matter. Photo: Sylvia Liber

It was the wedding reception from hell – 49 wedding guests pole-axed by food poisoning, the newlyweds confined to their honeymoon hotel, gripped with gut pain, and a function centre fined for sloppy food hygiene. The cause of these problems, reported in the UK Daily Mail last month, was ill-prepared duck liver pate contaminated by Campylobacter, a type of bacteria found in poultry.

You don't need an overseas trip to bump into Campylobacter. It's now the most commonly reported cause of food poisoning in Australia, with most of the 17,700 notifiable cases reported last year and 7500 cases so far this year thought to be foodborne.

"The numbers of food poisoning cases linked to Campylobacter in under cooked poultry liver pâté has increased in Australla ."

"As in the UK, the numbers of food poisoning cases linked to Campylobacter in under cooked poultry liver pâté or parfait (a smoother kind of pate) has increased in Australia too," says Juliana Madden, Executive Director of the Food Safety Information Council.

Kitchen rules ... Do not use leftover marinades as a sauce. Photo: Jennifer Soo

The cause of this increase in cases sourced to poultry livers could be a growing fashion for liver pate – or better food surveillance by health authorities. Either way, it means we need to be clearer about what flesh foods are okay to eat rare and what aren't, says Madden.

Advertisement

Although we're generally aware that undercooked chicken is risky, we're less cluey about duck – a debate on the safety or otherwise of undercooked duck broke out on Chew on This recently, with some readers convinced that underdone duck is fine. Wrong, says Madden, stressing that any type of poultry needs thorough cooking all the way through because of the risk of even healthy birds harbouring Salmonella and Campylobacter.

How can you tell if poultry is cooked enough? It's not always easy to tell – with duck, for instance, its flesh can still look reddish even when it's cooked, she says – so the safest way is to insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the bird such as the thigh to check that it's reached 75 degrees. As for cooking poultry livers for pate (or cooking any offal) searing on the outside isn't enough - Madden suggests slicing offal thinly and sauteing on a moderate heat covered with a lid so it's thoroughly cooked but still moist.

Another pitfall is having an uncooked marinade to baste poultry and or meat during cooking - and then using the leftover marinade as a sauce for the cooked food.

"Unless the marinade is cooked, this is like covering the cooked chicken or duck in a Salmonella and Campylobacter soup, and negating one of the main reasons we cook our food," she says.

Do most of us realise that while whole cuts of meat like a steak, chop or roasts are fine to eat rare, that undercooked burgers, sausages or rolled meat are risky? No, says Madden - research by the Council found that although most people knew you had to cook rolled turkey all the way through, only about 50 per cent knew you had to do the same with rolled lamb.

The point to understand here is that while poultry can carry potentially harmful bacteria inside and out, with whole pieces of meat or with fish the bugs are only on the outside. This means that when you grill, sear or bake the meat these bugs are killed. But mincing or rolling a piece of meat brings the outside surface of the meat - and its bacteria - into the inside, so it needs cooking all the way through.

It's a bit like washing socks, says Madden.

"We don't fold our socks into each other to wash them and then expect them to be as clean as if we threw each sock into the machine separately. The water needs to touch each surface for the socks to be properly clean – and it's the same with meat. The heat has to reach all surfaces for the bugs to be killed and the food properly cooked, which takes time."

Has a bout of food poisoning made you more cautious about what you eat?

90 comments so far

Supermarkets now sell nearly all roasts boned out. This ruins the flavour of the meat and now we know that it increases the danger of food poisoning ( it also doubles the price of the meat). Even local butchers are removing bones from pork shoulder or leg joints and lamb leg joints. They used to say 'The nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat' and I believe that to be true. I want my roast handled as little as possible before it comes into my kitchen.

Commenter

bebofpenge

Location

Western Vic

Date and time

July 17, 2012, 10:07PM

I'm with you on your annoyance about bones being removed from roasts bebofpenge. I dont like them as they are bland and flavourless so I've stopped buying them. But most of the comatose public has no idea of what real flavour is anymore so they keep buying them, so the supermarkets and butchers keep doing it! Not only does this reduce flavour, it also reduces nutrient content.

Commenter

Catgirl

Date and time

July 18, 2012, 10:47AM

Hi Catgirl - how does it affect the nutrient content?

Commenter

Paula

Date and time

July 18, 2012, 10:55AM

Could be a reference to losing the lovely cartilage/tendon/marrow bits that cook to gluey softness. Are they nutritious? I know a lot of people who think so. Also, isn't there some kind of specialness about the kind of fat in marrow? [Nothing special about what it does to your hips, of course!]

Commenter

Hollow Legs

Location

Earth

Date and time

July 18, 2012, 11:18AM

Yes, I wondered if it could be the marrow too but can't find much info on any authoritative websites. haven't found much useful info so far, though there is a little here on the Livestrong website http://www.livestrong.com/article/521325-the-nutrition-in-beef-marrow/

Commenter

Paula

Date and time

July 18, 2012, 11:46AM

Perhaps removing the bone lowers the calcium content?

Personally I like my roasts bone-in so when I carve, I can dig the marrow out with a sharpened chopstick.

Commenter

Matt

Location

Glebe

Date and time

July 18, 2012, 11:32AM

The marrow has a high percentage of fat content and anyone who likes steak or sausages knows that the flavour comes from the fat, just look at wagu beef, the marbelling is what makes it so special. Lean meats such as the heart smart mince and boned roasts are to me quite bland and tastless. Everything in moderation.

Commenter

BB

Date and time

July 18, 2012, 2:43PM

With reference to you “bone heads” complaining about butchers or supermarkets that sell boneless roasts, it is about choice. The supermarkets and butchers still sell plenty of bone in product, Rib eye on the bone, standing rib roast, lamb leg bone in, rack of lamb, Shoulder of pork bone in or leg of pork, so what is the problem. Just because you like bone in does not mean everybody else has to but it is nice to have a choice in our lives don’t you think. What I thought was particularly amusing about the article was that the headline said “ When rare can be risky” with the first big photo being a very nice marbled steak , boneless but the article was essentially about chicken.

Commenter

The butcher

Location

Asia

Date and time

July 18, 2012, 4:11PM

I did write 'Supermarkets now sell nearly all roasts boned out.'. Woolworth and Coles do not sell shoulder pork on the bone at all so I go to a good butcher instead (shoulder is my favourite). If the supermarkets do not want my custom, I am quite happy to go to an independent butcher to get what I want. While I am there I can get decent sausages and chump lamb chops (which seem to have become extinct in supermarkets).

Commenter

bebofpenge

Location

Western Vic

Date and time

July 18, 2012, 4:50PM

@ the Butcher - imported meats can only come into the country if they have been deboned, hence a propensity towards boneless meat. Just another way the major supermarket chains are stifling the retail markets.